Monday, February 02, 2009

Agent Bedhead Eliza Dushku is the latest PETA targetNew Yorker David Denby on Oscar's "Best Pictures"Times OnlineSlumdog becomes a charity. Is it uncharitable to wonder if this is a really smart move after reports of the production underpaying poverty stricken child actors? Yes it is. So I shan't wonder.Coming Soon collects the new film teasers/trailers from the Super BowlDefamer reacts to the changes for this year's Oscar ceremony -- courtesy of Larry Mark and writer/director Bill Condon

Film Junk on Kung Fu Panda beating WALL•E at the Annies. I haven't mentioned this because a) I don't understand b) I love Kung Fu Panda so I'm sad that it is already hated because of this and c) The Annie gave the top prize to Cars for Christ's sake. How can they justify no top prize for WALL•E? YuckIn Contention Frost/ Nixon's graphic design templateGuardian interesting piece on the '59 Cannes winning Black Orpheus (I recommend a viewing) and Barack Obama's take on itBig Screen Little Screen Scorsese's next project after 2009's Shutter Island. No DiCaprio this time.Just Jared Jake Gyllenhaal in a fedora and scarf on account of... why not?

And a YouTube classic to send you on your way, Legolas + Enya (sigh -thx omg) I can't be the only one who misses Orlando Bloom's pointy ears

15 comments:

I'm still trying to give Mark and Condon the benefit of the doubt. But it's getting difficult.

First the shakey: I like Hugh Jackman as much as the next guy, but the Oscars are the Oscars and the Tonys are the Tonys.

Next, the bad: Eliminating the clip montages. What they need to be is changed. Instead of montages celebrating film history (and trust me, I love film history) they should be celebrating 2008, the year in film. The Dark Knight and WALL-E and the movies that viewers want to see celebrated.

Finally the unforgivable: It's possible that last years acting winners won't be presenting to this years? So forget about that Javier giving an Oscar to Penelope moment. Instead it'll be people associated with 2008 movies. Who do we have to look forward to? Kristin Stewart? Miley Cyrus? The High School Musical Kids?

I, too, like both Kung Fu Panda and WALL-E (didn't really love either, I suppose) and am very sad about bashing the former is now getting. On the one hand, everybody complains about the predictability of the award season - on the other, when an awards body dares to break out of the groupthink, shit hits the fan.

KFP is a great, energetic homage to kung-fu movies, fun for all ages, with surprisingly fleshed out characters and (despite being a comedy) arguably the best-executed action scenes this year. It also never overstays its welcome whereas WALL-E's second half is definitely weaker than the first; even a lot of people who like it admit that. I would've voted for Pixar's film myself, but this verdict is not a disgrace.

(The disgrace is that WALL-E wasn't even nominated for its music and writing at the Annies, but that's old news.)

The Kung Fu Panda sweep is no surprise to me. It's certainly a far more impressive feat of character animation, which is the craft that most in the animation industry seem to hold in the greatest esteem. All the other awards may build upon the film's ability to be a showcase for character motion. (Though it's of course no slouch in the design department either).

Wall-E is the better movie because it's less reliant on formula. But there is no category for "best departure from predictable storytelling structure" in the Annies.

I didn't like Kung Fu Pandabefore the ANNIE sweep and while the sweep is annoying it's hardly the be all end all. Nobody outside of Oscar-watching circles knows who the hell they are so that's punishment enough.

the title of the post would indeed be more complete with "shamiyane ke tale", where 'tale', pronounced talay (as in 'allay', but not with the American twang of 'a' as in yeah' but 'a' as in 'duh'), means 'under'. i'm not sure what "jind" means. it is atypical hindi.

on the Slumdog $$ and underpaying: they're damned if they do, damned if they don't. I was at a producer's conference where someone talked of a project made in a third world country (they didn't name the film), where the filmmakers decided that people who worked on the film should be payed at US rates (many many times what they would have gotten on a local salary). When some of the production team returned to the location to do some further work some months down the track, they found that everyone who had gotten the money was destitute / dead at the hands of the local mafia. Turning people who have worked on a film into instant millionaires (by local standards) will have an effect - it's hard to know in some situations what to do.